


singing songs to stir the soul

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: follow the storm (as the storm begins to rise) [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Flash Fic, Gen, au of a canon divergence fic, autistic luka, i am easily influenced apparently, inspired by a comment, luka and marinette are childhood friends, luka is sensitive to magic, that splits off well before that fic, this is an au of seeking shelters, this is in no way edited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-08 23:09:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19877608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: Luka's known about magic for as long as he can remember.He's always felt it- in the breeze off the Seine when the houseboat is steady, in the whispers on the wind when they're on the move.  Some of his earliest memories are mentioning it to his mother who'd told him, in a slyly confidential voice, that she felt it too."But most people don't, love," she'd said, ruffling his hair.  "Most of them won't listen to it, and they may not listen to you about it."Luka had looked from her to his guitar (his first guitar, the one Mom had gifted him before Juleka was even born, the bright purple one with golden star stickers on the side and a strap patterned with taijitsu- he still has that strap) and he'd thought, I know what they'll listen to.





	singing songs to stir the soul

**Author's Note:**

  * For [5Chaos_Babe3](https://archiveofourown.org/users/5Chaos_Babe3/gifts).



so because 5Chaos_Babe3 left these comments on the last chapter of Seeking Shelters (chapter 30), this. this exists now. 

a warning: i did not edit this, like, _at all._

these comments:

_It honestly sounds like a ghost ganked something that followed them, got caught, and passed on the warning. I am so down with Marinette being a magic catalyst and Juleka just happens to be a magic user herself, just not a lot of power._

_Now I’m wondering what magic Adrien has that he never noticed. Lila obviously has some power that supports her lies, or Chloe would have called her out the first time Lila started bragging about her close friendship with the Agreste family. Heck, Nino should have been able to call Lila out, but he doesn’t._

_(Can I tempt your bunnies with the AU that Marinette makes friends with Luka in a park pre-canon, and that leads to shenanigans? With all sorts of hidden moments that are ‘could be magic, could just be’ incidents. And Luka compiles them mentally and just shrugs, so his young friend is magic and doesn’t know it. Much more important to get the chords for this song right. And then Ladybug happens.)(Marinette has a domain for Creation magic, it pours out of her into her designs, it’s in everything that she helps bake. Luka is Music, he’s not a powerhouse, but once he makes the connection of Marinette and magic his own little power makes more sense. He doesn’t realize that consistently being around Marinette’s Creation is Creating deeper reserves. He may not be the hardest hitter out there, but he’ll give the death of a thousand cuts and keep going._

_Juleka is vaguely aware that Luka meets up with someone at the park and various other locals, but doesn’t really tag along. She always seems to just miss Mari at these meet ups._

_Lila now, Lila is Corruption. Her lies aren’t very believable, but her power Corrupts her listeners, corrupts relationships. She’s the antithesis of Marinette’s Creation, able to feed off it to Creat more Corruption. Mari doesn’t know any of this, she just knows she’s drained after every school day when Lila’s around. She can protect herself, not that she’s aware she’s doing it, but she can’t really protect the others, because it’s not her power. It’s Adrien’s. He’s Destruction, he Destroys the Corruption reaching out to him, he could Destroy it reaching out to his classmates. Except he doesn’t know either and growing up in the Agreste household taught him to be passive and quiet._

_Luka is wrapped up in Marinette’s Creation, has been for years, and his own Domain is pretty balanced for offense and defense. He can use Music to fight Corruption (or bring it), he can Create with it, he can Destroy with it. Not as powerfully as a Creator or Destroyer, but he’s not helpless.)_

_Lovely day, isn’t it? Have some feed for the plunnie!_

_**singing songs to stir the soul** _

Luka's known about magic for as long as he can remember.

He's always felt it- in the breeze off the Seine when the houseboat is steady, in the whispers on the wind when they're on the move. Some of his earliest memories are mentioning it to his mother who'd told him, in a slyly confidential voice, that she felt it too.

"But most people don't, love," she'd said, ruffling his hair. "Most of them won't listen to it, and they may not listen to you about it."

Luka had looked from her to his guitar (his first guitar, the one Mom had gifted him before Juleka was even born, the bright purple one with golden star stickers on the side and a strap patterned with taijitsu- he still has that strap) and he'd thought, _I know what they'll listen to._

Juleka is aware of the magic, too, when she's a little older. She almost never mentions it, but the first time she brings Rose home the air seems to charge around them both and Luka finds the next song he writes seems to overflow with confidence and joy. He takes to leaning back against the wall his room shares with his sister's and playing that song whenever she seems like she's had a rough day.

Mom is right. Luka meets people who walk with magic in their hearts and souls every day and almost none of them seem to know it.

He spends as much time as he can tucked out of the way in crowded areas, letting his fingers fly over his guitar and working the magic into his songs. It's not stealing, he reasons, because the amount of magic the others have never decreases. He isn't sure why it works that way, exactly, but he doesn't let it worry him too much. 

The song Rose and Juleka's meeting inspired remain's one of his favourites. He does, however, learn to create more and more of those songs from each person he meets, from the changes in them with each person _they_ meet, and he finds himself sinking into the magic-music pattern of anyone he encounters. 

He doesn't actually realise what's different about Marinette's magic until they've run into each other several times.

It's in one of his crowded parks, the first time. Luka's tucked himself under a copse of trees in the middle of the park, an area people tend to avoid (the magic around it is jealous and afraid and Luka played the kindest song he knew the first time he was here, and it's been grudgingly welcoming to him since), and he doesn't expect it at all when the pig-tailed girl comes tumbling into his hiding spot.

She's breathing hard, dirt streaked on both her knees where the fabric of her jeans is badly ripped, and when he strums a single note to feel around her she's vibrating with tension and irritation. She's not just vibrating, she's _vibrant_ , her magic louder than any he's seen before. 

By the time she climbs to her knees the dirt is gone from her jeans, the holes in them repaired, and he doesn't think she knows they were ever ripped at all.

But people don't react well when Luka mentions magic, so he plays the intro alone to Rose and Juleka's song before setting his guitar aside and offering his hand.

Marinette looks at him warily, but she does take his hand and come to sit beside him.

"I'm Luka," he introduces himself after a few minutes of sitting in silence, after Marinette has drawn her knees up to her chest and settled for glaring at the ground.

"Marinette," she mumbles, digging the toes of one foot into the dirt.

Luka waits, but she doesn't seem to have anything else to add. He _wants_ to know what sent her tumbling into his sanctuary with skinned knees and a scowl but he won't pry. He can make an educated guess, anyway.

From then on Marinette comes to find him in the trees with increasing frequency. Luka learns that it's usually the same girl, or at least the same two girls, that send Marinette sulking into the trees after him. 

She always leaves with repaired clothes and hair that looks like it's never been touched. She doesn't seem to notice. 

"Luka," Marinette says, suddenly, one day when she's sprawled on her back in the middle of their tree haven and Luka has his back against a tree while he tunes his guitar. It's not his purple one anymore; he still has that one and always will, but the newest one is red. The newest one has a black strap with acid-green paw prints. 

Luka always knew about magic. It's still strange to feel it broadcasted across the city every time Hawkmoth finds a target.

(Hero's Day was not a fun day for Luka).

"What is it?" Luka asks, setting his guitar aside to give Marinette his full attention.

Marinette hesitates for the first time in all the years they've been meeting here. Finally she seems to gather herself, rolling onto her side and shoving herself to her knees to face him. Blowing a loose strand of hair from her face, she says, "Do you believe in magic?"

Luka's known and felt the magic all his life. He's been yearning for someone else to feel it, feel the way it's been strengthening by the day, since Ladybug and Chat Noir first fought together. 

But words fail him when he tries to respond.

Marinette's expression softens and she gestures to his guitar.

Luka takes a deep breath and starts to play, watching her reaction as he pours what he knows into the song.

He believes in magic the way hurricane survivors believe in the power of wind and rain. He believes in it in a way that manifests in every aspect of his life. Marinette _radiates_ it, always has- where Luka's magic reveals itself in his music, Marinette's simply _is_ , a whirlwind of luck and creation that catches anyone who strays into its path. It shoves itself behind Luka's music when he's around her, it elevates her classmates beyond their usual ambient abilities (and Luka has never met anyone _without_ said ambient abilities)- it's one of the strongest auras he's ever encountered.

He pours that into his song and watches Marinette's expression change, from revelation to concern to terror, and he _knows_. 

There's a very limited number of auras he feels as strongly as he does hers, and only two that spiked when hers did, and he's fairly certain his friend isn't Chat Noir. (He's fairly certain he knows who _is_ Chat Noir but Luka has always known how to keep things to himself).

Marinette doesn't say anything, but then the two of them have never much relied on words. Still, Luka feels it's important to tell her, "I wouldn't tell anyone."

Her shoulders start to straighten out of her slump and she looks directly into his eyes, even though she knows it makes him uncomfortable. 

"I won't," Luka assures her, trying to keep from tensing himself. "I've gone all these years without mentioning the magic, you know."

Marinette blinks.

And that's how he ends up explaining to her, spilling it all out in a way he's _never_ done before. How the magic touches everything, not just people, how it unfurls from the wind and water and seeps from trees and birds and anywhere there's _life_.

(Luka actually rather likes Pigeon Man, even as much of a nuisance as he's become. The man truly, deeply loves his birds and even his akumatized form _shines_ with it. It's strangely comforting, that such a positive emotion breaks through even Hawkmoth's influence).

He also ends up letting slip that in the past few months there's been something strange eating at the edges of Marinette's magic, a corrupting influence he'd never felt before.

Marinette interrogates him about that, intensely focused in a way that, surprisingly, relaxes Luka. Marinette's determination is one of the things he's always admired about her, after all.

Finally, she sits back on her heels, wipes the sweat from her brow, and says, " _Lila_ ," wonderingly.

Luka blinks. He thinks Juleka's mentioned Lila, once or twice in passing. He vaguely remembers Rose mentioning something to do with Lila and Jagged Stone that Luka had simply shaken his head at, because it had sounded so off.

"Lila," Marinette repeats, drawing in a deep breath. " _That's_ why people believe her!"

"That shouldn't be possible." Luka's brows furrow and his hands twitch around his guitar strings without his permission. "Magic isn't- it isn't that _obvious_ -" He trails off.

Because his own abilities have changed, since meeting Marinette. His songs have steadily gained more power. He thought it was simply happening as he grew older but- what if that's not it? What if that was _never_ it?

Rose and Juleka have grown in strength too, but they're _in Marinette's class_.

"Marinette," he says slowly. "I think you're boosting her. I think I know what would stop her."

Because Marinette's magic is Creation, is Ladybug's Creation, and that means her partner's complementary magic is exactly what she would need to prevent its influence spreading.

"Not that it's a bad thing!" Luka adds hastily. "It's not, not at all. But in this particular case-"

"-it's making things worse," Marinette concludes, gloomily. "But Luka- I don't know who Chat Noir is."

But.

But Luka _does_. 

He thought he knew before, but now that he's told Marinette what he knows and confirmed what he's suspected all along, he _knows_ who holds the other half of the hero's magic.

He doesn't tell her, because if Marinette doesn't know something about so massive a part of her life it's because she doesn't _want_ to, but he goes home and gets Adrien's number from his sister and calls to see if Adrien has any time to come over and play the keyboard Mom has tried to give him to keep multiple times now.

(Mom doesn't talk about magic much, but she knows it in the same way her children do. She looks at people and she knows what they need from her. She doesn't always _listen_ to her impulses but if she were any less impulsive they would probably live on land like all their friends, and Luka's quietly grateful that his mother foresaw the need for a private retreat long ago).

Adrien, unsurprisingly, has trouble getting away to meet him. The time they finally settle on is- well, Luka's positive Adrien is sneaking out to meet him. He's honestly fairly flattered that he _is_ someone Adrien would sneak out to meet.

"It's just us?" Adrien asks when Luka lets him onto the boat.

Luka nods, ducking his head a little more than necessary so that Adrien can't see his eyes. Where Marinette is aware Luka doesn't want to make eye contact, Adrien always wants to make eye contact with _everyone_ , like he's not sure he'll be acknowledged if he doesn't.

"Mom's out running errands, and Juleka and Rose went to the pool," he says, raising his head and focusing slightly to the left of Adrien when he looks up. It doesn't really help- the other boy's vivid green eyes still seem to pierce right through him. Luka takes a deeper breath. "So it's just us. Uh, sorry."

"You don't need to apologise!" Adrien says immediately, and Luka tests the winds around them tentatively, the currents that carry people's magic. The destruction he's used to by now from every city-wide battle bites back at him but it's tempered by kindness, by loneliness, by the way Adrien is reigning it in entirely on instinct.

Luka has to convince him to loose that iron control around Lila.

Adrien doesn't even know he's doing it.

The thing is, Luka's not prepared for the tiny being that's nothing _but_ a bright spot of magic and destruction to come darting out of Adrien's shirt.

"Plagg!" Adrien gasps, and then immediately backs away like that can somehow keep his secret. 

Luka shakes his head and, for the second time today, says, "I won't tell anyone."

Unlike Marinette, Adrien does _not_ relax at that.

The being- Plagg- does, however, tilt his head thoughtfully at Luka. 

"Kid, it's okay," he announces, finally, flitting back to Adrien and perching on his shoulder, nestling snugly against his neck. "He's all right."

"I already knew," Luka admits. "It's why I called you."

He doesn't think he'd be able to convince Adrien alone, but Plagg takes up his argument as soon as Luka mentions the destructive aura- and that it could tear apart the _corrupting_ aura eating at his classmates. 

Adrien's reluctant, but Plagg is _not_ , and Plagg is destruction all on his own.

The next time Luka finds Marinette in their trees, she's grinning so wide that she shines. Or possibly that's her magic, let loose now that she knows about it, but either way she tells him all about how the class is disenchanted with Lila entirely now.

(Luka thinks 'disenchanted is a more accurate way of putting it than his friend intends).

Adrien calls _him_ the next day and comes over, ostensibly to practice for the band (the band Adrien is barely able to participate in, and Luka is more and more willing to fight Adrien's father over his lack of free time, and Plagg's promised to help), and they begin to see each other regularly. Sometimes Luka decides to be sly and invites Marinette as well, both because he kind of loves the way his two friend's magic intertwines with the kind of humming he feels deep in his _soul_ when it meets, but also because it makes Plagg laugh and Luka's learning to count Plagg as a friend, too.

He meets Tikki for the first time when Marinette meets him at the park much later than usual and nervously opens her purse for the kwami to soar out. Luka thinks it might be good for the kwami, too, to have humans they can relax around other than their respective chosen.

He doesn't tell either of them about the other. He can tell that their kwami know, mainly because Plagg can't seem to help the occasional biting comment that Adrien inevitably tunes right out, but Luka told them both he'd keep their secret and he does.

Several times later, several months after he's admitted what he knows and shown both his friends how Paris is _filled_ with magic both loud and quiet, several months since they _really_ should have been able to find each other with that magic alone, Chat Noir comes tumbling through Luka's window in the middle of a battle that's spanned two days and half the city. 

He hands Luka the Snake Miraculous.

Luka hefts it, feeling the weight of the magic settle in his bones and soul, and grins.


End file.
